Every Jackbox Party Pack Ranked: The Funniest Games to Play as a Group

A few weeks ago, I was able to meet face-to-face for the first time with the entire WhatNerd crew—plus a few others from our sister site—and we had a blast. On top of running several escape rooms together and playing a whole lot of Mario Tennis Aces, we actually spent most of our free time playing various games from the Jackbox Party Packs.

And what a ride it was! If you’ve never played any of the Jackbox games, you’re missing out.

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Jackbox Party Games, Explained

Jackbox games are party games that can be played over a streaming service like Twitch, but in my experience it’s best when everyone is in the same room. Only one person needs to purchase and own the game, which is hosted on a TV, computer screen, or what have you. Everyone else joins the game as a player using their mobile phone and the room code.

So you have a bunch of players sitting in front of the TV, and the game itself plays out on the TV, but players are interacting with the game’s prompts using their mobile phones. Most Jackbox games involve typing answers or drawing images to your device, and then the results of the game are shown on the TV. Each game is different, of course, but the driving element of every Jackbox game is the party aspect: they’re simple, creative, and downright hilarious when played with the right group of people.

But not every Jackbox game is a winner. The best ones have incredible replayability that can keep you entertained for hours, but some are downright terrible and others may only be fun a few times before they lose their luster. This is a shame because—save for a few exceptions—the Jackbox games can’t be bought a la carte. You have to buy them in Jackbox Party Packs, and at $25 a pop, it can be hard to know which packs are worth getting and which ones you should probably skip.

As of this writing, there are five Jackbox Party Packs available. I’ll review each one and explain why I think it’s either worth getting or skipping, and I’ll rate each game in each pack using the following evaluations:

Not worth playing

Good for a few plays

Fun with the right people

Always worth playing

Jackbox Party Pack 1: Skip It…

You Don’t Know Jack 2015 (1-4 players)Not worth playingStraight-up trivia game with a twist: the questions involve a lot of puns and word play, requiring you to decode what they’re asking before you can even answer. I didn’t find it entertaining in the least.

Word Spud (2-8 players)Not worth playingPlayers take turns creating compound words. The music is surprisingly tense, which I liked, but at the end of the day this one’s not really a game at all. Not sure how it made it into the pack.

Lie Swatter (1-100 players)Not worth playingA race to see who can answer True or False the fastest. Not really a game since you can mash answers and still have a 50 percent chance of getting it correct. If only there were more to it than that.

Fibbage XL (2-8 players)Fun with the right peopleEntertaining! Every player is given the same trivia fact with a fill-in-the-blank to answer. All false answers are shown simultaneously with the actual answer, and players need to guess what the truth is.

Drawful (3-8 players)Always worth playingEach player is given a wacky prompt to draw. Then, one at a time, the drawings are shown on screen and everyone (except the drawer) needs to guess what it is. Then, the guesses are all shown simultaneously with the actual prompt, and players need to pick the right one. Hilarious! Fortunately, you can buy Drawful as a standalone game.

Jackbox Party Pack 2: Skip It…

Earwax (3-8 players)Not worth playingPlayers are given a prompt and must pick two sound effects (from a list of six) that best match the prompt. Usually devolves into fart noises and absurd, nonsensical combinations. Very little replay value.

Bidiots (3-6 players)Not worth playingEvery player starts with $3,000 and is given two prompts to draw. Drawings are put up for auction, but each player only knows the true value of some of the drawings. Whoever ends with the most money wins. Not a bad concept, but the game just takes way too long for how much fun it provides.

Bomb Corp (1-4 players)Fun with the right peopleHave you ever played Spaceteam? This is like that, cranked up another notch. Players work cooperatively to defuse a bomb, but each player knows special details about the bomb that the other players don’t—so they need to work together to figure out how to defuse it properly before time runs out. Surprisingly tense and funny!

Fibbage 2 (2-8 players)Fun with the right peopleLike Fibbage XL in Party Pack 1 with all-new questions.

Quiplash XL (3-8 players)Always worth playingPlayers are given two prompts to answer, where each prompt is given to two players. For each prompt, the two answers are pitted head-to-head, and players vote for which one they like better. Really funny!

Jackbox Party Pack 3: Get It!

Tee K.O. (3-8 players)Fun with the right peoplePlayers take turn drawing, and then those drawings are given to other players to caption. Finally, drawings and captions are matched together to create funny T-shirts, which are voted on. Best one wins. I didn’t like this one, but it has potential to be hilarious with the right group.

Guesspionage (2-8 players)Fun with the right peoplePlayers take turns answering a social statistics question, where the statistics are gathered by informal polls (like Family Feud). The other players then guess whether the real answer is higher or lower. It’s a pretty good blend of trivia and social interaction, but can be a bust if played with people who don’t really care about statistics.

Trivia Murder Party (1-8 players)Fun with the right peopleStraight-up trivia quiz show packaged as a horror escape. Pretty fun if your group is into trivia, otherwise it’s a bit of a bust.

Quiplash 2 (3-8 players)Always worth playingLike Quiplash XL from Party Pack 2 but with more questions—as well as the ability to create your own questions if you want.

Fakin’ It (3-6 players)Always worth playingThis might be my favorite Jackbox game of all time. In it, all players except one—the “faker”—is given a particular instruction (“Raise your hand if…”, “Point at the person who…”, “Make the face you’d make when…”). The faker needs to try to blend in, while everyone else needs to figure out who’s faking. I love this game because it’s funny and you learn things about people you never would have otherwise.

Jackbox Party Pack 4: Get It!

Bracketeering (3-16 players)Not worth playingEveryone is given a prompt. Then, all answers are pitted against one another in a tournament-style bracket, until one answer comes out on top. It’s basically Quiplash but slower and nowhere near as funny.

Civic Doodle (3-8 players)Good for a few playsTwo players are given something to draw. The rest vote on which they like better. The resulting winner is given to two other players, who add on to it, and the results are voted on. On and on it goes for several rounds and you’re left with a mess of a drawing. A cool concept, but it drags on for far too long, and the laughs-per-minute just aren’t there.

Survive the Internet (3-8 players)Fun with the right peopleEveryone is given a prompt to answer. Then, each answer is given to a different player who provides a different prompt for that answer, so it looks like the original player’s answer is ridiculous, offensive, etc. Then everyone votes on the funniest results. Requires a bit of clever wit to be good, but can lead to some hilarious moments!

Monster Seeking Monster (3-7 players)Fun with the right peopleEveryone joins the game using a nonsense nickname so no one knows who’s who. Then, over the course of six rounds, players send each other messages in secret to try to “match” with one another, as if they were online dating. Everyone has individual goals on who they need to match with. Requires everyone to get into character for it to be fun, but it’s surprisingly fun when they do.

Fibbage 3 (2-8 players)Always worth playingLike Fibbage XL and Fibbage 2, but with an amazing new mode called “Enough About You” where players enter truths about themselves, everyone enters lies about everyone else, and the goal is to guess the truth for each person. I love this game because it’s hilarious and you learn so much about the people you play with. My second favorite Jackbox game after Fakin’ It.

Jackbox Party Pack 5: Get It!

You Don’t Know Jack (1-8 players)Not worth playingPretty much the same thing as You Don’t Know Jack 2015 from Party Pack 1, and still just as bad. I really don’t like this game.

Zeeple Dome (1-6 players)Not worth playingJackbox took a risk with Zeeple Dome, an action-style physics arena game—and, unfortunately, it’s a huge miss. It just isn’t very fun or funny. However, I’m glad they took the chance, and I’d love to see more attempts at action-oriented party games, as long as they end up being better than this one.

Patently Stupid (3-8 players)Good for a few playsA creative concept where players submit “problems” that need solving. Then, each player is given one problem at random and must draw a solution for it. Then, the drawn solutions are distributed to players, and players must given them names, slogans, and try to “sell” the product to everyone else.

Split the Room (3-8 players)Fun with the right peoplePlayers are given prompts with fill-in-the-blanks answers and must write in controversial choices. Everyone else votes on the two choices, and the goal is to “split the room” so that half pick one and half pick the other. Similar to but not as good as Quiplash.

Mad Verse City (3-8 players)Fun with the right peoplePlayers are given nonsensical rap lines and must come up with rhymes for them. Then, two players are pitted head-to-head in a rap battle, and everyone else votes on who had the better lines. Extremely funny as long as everyone is into it and actually puts effort into their answers.

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